South Carolina Begins Using Uniform Mortgage Test; 57 State Agencies Now Using the Test

Sep 18, 2017

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Washington, D.C. – The Conference of State Bank Supervisors (CSBS) announced today that the South Carolina State Board of Financial Institutions and the South Carolina Department of Consumer Affairs will begin using the National SAFE Mortgage Loan Originator (MLO) Test with Uniform State Content starting today, bringing the total number of state agencies that use the test to 57.

Passage of the SAFE Mortgage Licensing Act of 2008 requires all mortgage loan originators (MLOs) to be registered or state-licensed through the Nationwide Multistate Licensing System and Registry (NMLS).

The test, which was first made available on April 1, 2013, combines both the national and state testing requirements of the SAFE Act. Previously, South Carolina licensees had to take two tests: one national and one state. The new test replaces the separate, state-specific tests. A license applicant who passes the National SAFE MLO Test with Uniform State Content will not need to take any additional state-specific tests to hold a license within participating states.

Twenty state agencies initially adopted the National SAFE MLO test in April 2013. An additional 32 state agencies adopted the test between July 2013 and December 2016.

More information on the National SAFE MLO test with Uniform State Content is available here.

The Conference of State Bank Supervisors (CSBS) is the national organization of bank regulators from all 50 states, American Samoa, District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands. State regulators supervise roughly three-quarters of all U.S. banks and a variety of non-depository financial services. CSBS, on behalf of state regulators, also operates the Nationwide Multistate Licensing System to license and register non-depository financial service providers in the mortgage, money services businesses, consumer finance and debt industries.